Johnson Family Vacation (2004)
Review by HTQ4
Film:
DVD:

Written by Todd R. Jones and Earl Richey Jones
Directed byChristopher Erskin
Starring Cedric the Entertainer, Vanessa L. Williams, Solange Knowles, Bow Wow, Gabby Soleil, Shannon Elizabeth, Steve Harvey

Features:

• Running audio commentary by actors Cedric the Entertainer, Bow Wow, director Erskin, and producer Eric C. Rhone
  
• Running audio commentary by writers Jones and Jones
  
• Deleted scenes and outtakes with optional commentary by Erskin
  
• "Making of" Featurette
  
• "On the Set"
  

My Advice: Avoid it by everything that is Holy

Nate Johnson (Cedric) is taking his estranged, on the verge of breaking up family on a trip across the country for a family renunion. He should have known he was in for trouble when the company he hired to install his Delco 8-track player in his car actually tricked it out for him without his permission. He and his family go from one misfit adventure to another on their route from L.A. to Missouri, and semi-hijinks ensue along the way: smacking up the car, picking up a hitchhiker (Elizabeth), and situations you can see coming from a mile off.

Think of the African-American version of National Lampoon's Vacation--only without the humor--and you've got the gist. Cedric the Entertainer is quite funny, but this script doesn't give him anything to work with. None of the scenarios presented in this movie are in any way based in reality at all. Not only that, they are completely predictible. They deal with everything from hitchhikers to backwoods jails to running out of gas. And the characters aren't even consistent--after setting up these people, the writers then force them into actions that don't make sense given what we know about them.

However, the main problems with this movie started with the casting. Williams and Cedric do not make a believable couple at all. Bow Wow works too hard at the comedy to pull it off and most of Knowles' jokes have to do with the fact that she's really Beyonce's sister. It's hard to tell which crippled the film the most: the direction or the writing? Let's just say that's a combination of both and call it good. Or not.

I never thought I would ever say this, but this DVD has way too much commentary for the movie. The first commentary track is too full of inside jokes between Bow Wow and Cedric to be worth anything. The track with the writers I couldn't stand because it was horrible to hear them try to defend this travesty. The only other feature on the disc is a collection of deleted scenes and outtakes. They are all thrown together under the same sub-menu, but you have the option to pick and choose and there is an optional commentary track with Erskin. Whether you watch them with the commentary or not, the outcome is still the same: out of all of the non-funny bits that they shot, they pulled out the least funny of them. Even the outtakes aren't funny. The "On the Set" feature isn't even for this film--instead it looks at a completely different flick with Jimmy Fallon and Queen Latifah called Taxi. Huh?

So, if you value your sanity, avoid this movie if you see it sitting on the shelves. It's not even worth thinking about renting.